Stop the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Affirmative Action and School Integration
NPE Action strongly opposes the Trump administration’s decision to block efforts to promote admission’s diversity in higher education via affirmative action as well their decision to block districts’ initiatives to promote K-12 school integration. The administration’s actions will encourage racial segregation, promote racial divisions and reduce educational opportunity at a time when our society needs greater opportunity, desegregation and racial comity.
Let your representatives know that you oppose the administration’s decisions by sending this email here.
Here is what happened. In a deliberate attempt to undermine voluntary school integration, Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew the following document this week: Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools, issued in 2011 by the previous administration to provide guidance to school leaders on how to legally promote racial and economic diversity in their schools.
In addition, the administration issued a statement that it was abandoning Obama administration policies that asked universities to consider race as a factor in diversifying their campuses.
Keep in mind that athletes, alumni and the children of the wealthy have long held privilege in the college admissions process. This administration only seeks to remove affirmative action for students who are underrepresented minorities.
As NPE Action President, Diane Ravitch, pointed out in her recent blog, “Trump forgot that his son-in-Law Jared Kushner was the beneficiary of affirmative action. As detailed by journalist Daniel Golden in a book about preferential treatment for rich boys, Kushner’s dad gave Harvard a couple of million dollars, although no one in the family ever went to Harvard. This cleared the way for Jared’s admission, who vaulted over better qualified applicants from the same high school.”
Please send your email to Congress today and let your representatives know that you expect them to stand up to promote equity and integration in every school and university in the nation. Just click here.